Another vote for “not true”.
Not true.
There’s a radio personality that says this as well (Dr Laura Berman (NOT Dr Laura)). That two members of the opposite sex can’t be friends without one of them ‘liking’ the other, at least a little bit. It’s one of the few things I sincerely disagree with her on. She’s extremely open minded, but she’s always been pretty stubborn about that one.
One of my best friends in the world is female (and I’m not). I’ve always said we’ve been such good friends for so long (15 years now) because we have never had any interest at all in each other beyond being friends. In fact, from time to time people just assumed we were dating and we sort of looked at each other and said ‘him/her blegh’ in a joking way. Not liking each other meant we could watch each other go in and out of relationships and not ever end up jealous or worry about ending up in the ‘friend zone’. Also, it meant that if one of us dated someone the other didn’t drift out of the friendship never to be seen again because they felt their chance was gone. Instead we all became good friends. We’ve stood up in each other’s weddings. She’s my kid’s godmother. We live 4 hours apart and still travel to see each other at least twice a year for a weekend.
Not only are there no romantic feelings between us, I can tell you that I didn’t even find her attractive when I met her and, so far as I know, she felt that way about me as well. I have other friends I might feel differently about…she’s not one of them and, as I said earlier, I think that’s why we’re such good friends.
Considering the age of the OP, (15-16?), it may seem more true to him than for adults.
I’d say it’s false on two counts. First is that sexual attraction is different than compatibility. Without the sexual attraction, I think two people can get along just fine platonically.
The second is deciding just how attracted to someone you have to be before you take the leap into a relationship. Before we find “the one”, we have to sift through a lot of people. The attraction there ranges across a spectrum, and we’re unsure just what “true love” can be, or even is obtainable. On one hand, this makes us loss averse and hang onto mediocre relationships longer than we should. On the other, we keep establishing high water marks on what “true love” is and most everyone below that mark can be relegated to “just friends” status.
Another voice for the untrue chorus.
My best friend in the world, aside from my wife, is a woman, and an attractive one. We have been friends for my whole adult life - we met when I was 18, and I’m now 46. I was “best male bridesmaid” at her wedding, and she is my son’s godmother.
Sure, I find her attractive, and I assume she does the same, but we long ago agreed not to pursue any romantic course together - exactly because what we had, a real friendship, was far too valuable to risk, and why bother when there are other attractive people out there?
As the saying goes, friends help you move and true friends help you move bodies - while I’ve never had to prove that point literally, yet (
), she is one of only two people aside from my wife whom I’d dare to test it out with, should the occasion arise. We’ve been through thick and thin.
Naturally, many people assume we were/are fucking (not my wife or her husband, who know us better than that). It can be alternatively annoying and hilarious.
I mentioned that I stood up in my (female) best friend’s wedding. I was officially billed as “Bride’s best man” and was unofficially called the ‘mantron of honor’. At my wedding, I don’t recall if she was my ‘best man’ but she did offer to wear a tux and stand on my side.
My strongest friendships are typically with men. My argument with the assertion of the OP is more with the “permanent” part.
I haven’t acrimoniously dropped any friends. There are just a ton of people, male and female, that I used to be friends with. I don’t put the effort into staying friends once one of us has moved, or changed jobs.
I think any pair of friends can remain friends permanently with some effort.
Heh, “mantron of honour”. I wish I’d thought of that. 
Sadly, I got married during the year we were quarrelling and so not talking (over something humiliatingly trivial in hindsight), so she wasn’t at my wedding - very regrettible.
HA! My thoughts exactly. I would add that I’m still friends with 90 to 95 percent of that 90 percent though.
I could have written the above post. I’m mid 50s guy. Aside from my wife and kids, my best friend of many years is a woman. I find her attractive, and I assume she does the same. But I’m very married, and besides our friendship is too important, so we’ve never gotten romantic. Like Malthus, I have had people assume I was having an affair.
No. I have many great male friends… some of whom I have been friends with since High School.
I think there are some personality types that are more apt to forming a true platonic friendship with a person of the opposite sex.
I’m actually pretty surprised at the amount of people here who consider their best friend a member of the opposite sex to the point of making him/her their best man/maid of honor.
I wish men and women being friends was more common, because I think where a LOT of relationships fail during the boyfriend/girlfriend stage is the “friend” part. I’d be rich if I had a nickel for every time a male friend told me a woman was being unreasonable for not putting up with behavior they’d never pull on a guy they were friends with.
And it’s really annoying when people incapable of such maturity dismiss it in others as fake or delusional. A married couple I know are best friends and love each other’s company, and for 20 years people have been muttering how they can’t like each other that much, and one or the other is secretly gay. Gender politics are fucked up when someone liking their spouse enough to be friends with them is unbelievable.
My best friend is a woman who would have been my best man if my wife hadn’t instead made her the matron of honor. If our story is different than any of the above, it’s that we met just as I was dumped (from a long standing relationship in college) and mere weeks after she started dating her now-husband. We’ve talked about it plenty in the years since, and it’s clear to both of us that had the circumstances been different, we would have dated and it probably wouldn’t have worked out. So yes, I’m attracted to her and she is (or at least once was) attracted to me, but our friendship developed at a time when we were not interested in each other sexually - cause I was broken-hearted and she had just met the love of her life.
So I won’t speak for anyone else, but my best friend is a girl because the circumstances of our meeting kept us from being anything more than friends. And like others have said, many people have assumed that we’re lying to everybody, and that we either really did sleep with each other in college or that we’re always thinking about it cause we have such obvious chemistry together. But nope - friends only. Best friends, but just friends.
The whole formulation of the question in the OP seems extremely dated. (Seriously, as in no pun intended.) Or maybe it’s just phrased kind of… grade-schooly.
It was rather fun when my boyfriend and I were both bridesmaids in the same wedding. The groom had a woman in amongst his groomsmen as well.
I’ve got way more male friends then female (I’m a woman), and I’ve known most of them for going on 30 years now, since we were in college together. The only time it causes me an issue, is when I’m trying to think of someone to go on vacation with. I love them all dearly, but I do think their wives would object if I went on vacation with their husbands.
Someone mentioned above, but the OP is still in high school, IIRC.
I’ve moved around too much to keep many old friends, but one of my wife’s good friends is a guy. He’s really cool and I like him as well, but he and my wife are closer. They were in the same group of friends in college. He had a different girlfriend then, and then got married after my wife moved to Japan. They could very well have developed feelings for each other, who knows? But they didn’t.